CurbedLA is holding "the ugliest building in L.A." contest and throws down the gauntlet to Downtowners:

With downtown's revitalization, we haven't received very many nominations from the (formerly?) blighted area. Which is amazing, considering the last "revitalization" took place during the 80s, which gave us so many beautiful landmarks worthy of submission.

It's true. Many of us harp about the facades that litter the faces of historic buildings. Just as offensive are the buildings that were built brand new with those mid-century fake fronts, even if it's a parking garage.

El Chavo is a social critic, Lincoln Heights advocate, and vato-in-residence at bloggingla. He adds a comment in the last post: "I wonder if my collection of Homies figurines qualifies as art? Maybe I'll go and ask the panel!"

It's a valid question. However, despite the "Homies" using a Latino tradition of cultural satire for it's series of plastic cholos, it's obvious the manufacturing and distribution of these figures would decrease any value they may currently have. But if El Chavo and I did an exhibition using the toy characters like "Mariachi Pedro", "Babylocs" and "El Grumpy" wrapped in corn tortillas from Tortilleria La California––then displayed them at Tacos Chapalita on North Broadway––it would get an audience. We just need a title to put on the grant proposal like, say. . . "Carne La Raza".

Pictured: Animated version "Mr Raza", one of the original six plastic "Homies" created by artist David Gonzales.

New Medium: The Los Angeles Times has a look at some Tortilla Art
by Joe Bravo, now at the Mexican Cultural Institute at Olvera Street,
that may break new ground in medium application. Times Staff Writer
Agustin Gurza states: "Some call it kitsch. Some say it's just a
novelty. But the elevation of
the common tortilla to an object of beauty and admiration has struck a
chord with the public, Latinos and non-Latinos alike." Gurza notes
tortillas are a diet staple and a cultural symbol, but looks to a higher
authority for the tortillas place in art:

Still, tortilla art is hardly a staple of the arts world.

"Otherwise we'd be having the tortilla biennial," jokes UCLA professor
Chon Noriega, director of the Chicano Studies Research Center. "I think
the critical question that will naturally emerge with tortilla art is
this: corn or flour?"

For Bravo, it's flour all the way.'

Across the Plaza
at the Pico House Gallery is The Chicano Collection on it's second pass
through Los Angeles. It gathers prints drawn primarily from actor and
art collector Cheech Marin’s collection and include works by Carlos
Almaraz, Frank Romero, Patssi Valdez, George Yepes, Rupert García, Leo
Limón, Margaret García and Eloy Torrez. It runs until April 10.

At Crewest: Between being an artist, gallery owner and curator, "Man-One" doesn't have time to write often. From a few weeks back, he wrote a street eloquent post about a former mentor, and later fellow artist, who has been diagnosed with A.L.S:

His hands were already being affected by his condition, but like a true
warrior he fought through it and busted out some fresh handstyles that
were posted up on the front window display. They took him longer than
usual to produce but he knocked them out in style.

It's always hard to see one of your heroes being affected by illness in this way, it's very humbling to say the least.

Broadway, between 8th and 9th, is down to one lane (in each direction) this afternoon. It will be closed off later this evening for a premiere of "Grindhouse" being held at the Orpheum Theatre. Traffic will be heavier between 6 and 8pm, so plan ahead.

While roaming Downtown there's been a few times I would run into bloggers. Sometimes multiple sightings of up to four in the same day. Now it's international. LAO notes our meeting with Martin Schall and informs his readership that the German photographer will be on the air with Patt Morrison (KPCC) today at 2 p.m.

It's been one year after the gran marcha. Change is slow. The first steps were powerful. Here's a flickr set of others in the streets of L.A. looking for
solutions for a community, celebrate a cultural, or to find a finish line.

It's an article that has The New York Times that begins to identify L.A. as a viable destination for artists, while not defending NY's longstanding hold on the title. Complete with a nod to the Downtown gallery scene at "5th and Spring", the March 25 Sunday NY Times runs "The Art's Here. Where's the Crowd?". Edward Wyatt surveys Los Angeles as a cultural destination that comes with a art scene in a ". . city has long since emerged as an important center for the performing arts as well." He gives a lot of attention to Eli Broad, "the city’s most visible and generous champion of the arts."

Mr. Broad (whose name rhymes with road) has generated a fair amount of resentment in some corners here for his outsized presence on the art scene. His devotion to the downtown projects have been criticized as ignoring pockets of the city that have less access to the arts, like the largely Hispanic sections of East Los Angeles and the areas south of downtown that have large African-American populations. And some of the resistance he faced in his most recent fund-raising effort came from people who wondered why a billionaire was asking for money from taxpayers to promote museums on whose boards he sits.

Ever an optimist, Mr. Broad dismisses those criticisms, saying he prefers to discuss why, despite the relative lack of major corporations here, he still believes that new money can flow to the art world. As evidence, he cited a $25 million donation announced this month by BP, the energy company, to the Los Angeles County Museum to finance a new entrance pavilion.

The Los Angeles State Historic Park, better known as the site Not A Cornfield project, was empty late Saturday afternoon except for a few people with dogs, some runners and wild poppys scattered around the 32 acre-site. If you go visit, remember that the park closes at undown.

The Mystery of History Revealed: 1947project began in 2004 as a blog to explore 1947 crime (and other oddities) uncovered from archived newspapers. It then moved on to cover 1907 for a year. The next year to be documented was a mystery until last night.